Bishop Eddie Long Vows to Fight Sex Allegations

It has already been quite a busy Sunday morning as thousands of people across the world have tuned into watch the official address from Bishop Eddie Long live from New Birth Missionary Baptist Church in Lithonia, GA just outside of Atlanta.

As we’ve been reporting, only a portion of the service will be streamed. Halfway through the 8:00AM service the live feed stopped and cameras were asked to leave.

Apparently Bishop Long wanted to address the congregation without interference of media, according to CNN.com.

His address is the first of its kind to come from the leader of the 25,000+ member megachurch that has been catapulted into a major mess of a media frenzy over the last week and a half.

Bishop Eddie Long is again scheduled to address his congregation on Sunday, September 26th at 8 a.m. and 11 a.m. regarding the claims of sexual coercion against him by the four young men. The statements will be streamed live by local media such as CNN, www.myfoxatlanta.com, www.wsbtv.com and www.11alive.com.

This morning, Bishop Long and his wife Vanessa, stood together before their congregation holding hands and determined to put an end to the rumors as well as the accusations. Below are a few highlights from the 20-minute live statement which reportedly began similar to one of his sermons.

“I’ve been accused, I’m under attack. I want you to know, as I said earlier, that I am not a perfect man,” he said. “But this thing, I’m going to fight.”

Long added that he’s “not the man that has been portrayed on the television. That’s not me.”

“And I want you to know one other thing,” he told the cheering crowd Sunday morning. “I feel like David against Goliath, but I’ve got five rocks and I haven’t thrown one yet.”

The press conference was held shortly after the congregational statements, but was very abrupt as questions were prohibited from the media. This, obviously was due to the advice given to Bishop Eddie Long by his legal counsel.

Now it’s your turn to speak out. Did you all tune in for the first address? Do you think the drama surrounding the anticipation of Bishop Long’s address could’ve been eliminated? Why wait until now to say something?

Will you be watching the second portion throughout the day? Let us know what your thoughts are on the allegations as well as Bishop Eddie Long’s official response. What will happen next? Let’s discuss it in the message boards below.

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